Babel

Breugel's Tower of Babel (1563) was a contemporary metaphor for his Renaissance City State. The Tower, surrounded by the sprawling dwellings is depicted as the epicentre of the Feudal world. King Nimrod and his retinue visit the stonemasons, while the port in the distance depicts ships unloading their cargo.

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Evoking nation, empire, capitalism or simply a constructed edifice to hang a logo, the tower is a timeless evocative metaphor. Paradoxically, languages are now becoming extinct at alarming rates, inverting the pivotal Biblical narrative of Bruegel's original painting. 

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This current series is painted in acrylic on discarded A4 fashion magazines, using the barebones design of portrait or landscape. Layouts of models, ads for bags, corporate logos, watches and jewellery are the

ubiquitous, yet fleeting paraphernalia of fashion parading as iconic.

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The constant repetition of the image enables re-examination of Breugel's original painting. Poignantly, at this time of increasing monoculture, the series implies a multitude of Babels, referencing the rise and fall of endless empires.

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